Posts Tagged ‘Raffles Hotel Le Royal’

‘A romantic, evocative and touching book, the story of a young man’s coming-of-age in the shocking but desperately alluring war zones of Cambodia and Vietnam’ - Sunday Telegraph.

Jon Swain, one of Britain’s foremost foreign correspondents, visited the Hanuman offices yesterday, whilst on a whistle-stop visit along the Mekong River in southern Vietnam and Cambodia. Swain, who reported for the Sunday Times for 35 years in some of the world’s most troubled hotspots, is the author of River of Time, a beautiful book exploring his time in both Vietnam and Cambodia, and a book we recommend you read as it’s definitely one of our personal favourites. He stayed for a couple of nights at Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh, the same hotel where he was holed up with the rest of the press corps just before the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh in 1975. Swain was awarded the British Journalist of the Year for his reporting from Cambodia at that time and his character was famously portrayed in the movie, The Killing Fields, which then formed the backdrop for his bestselling memoir.

Robert Tompkins dines in le royal style in Phnom Penh, at Raffles Hotel Le Royal.

We were met at Restaurant Le Royal with smiles and the folded palms and slight bows of the traditional sampeah greeting. Chandeliers hung from the high recessed ceilings, which were creatively painted with a floral motif. The lighting was subdued and enhanced by candles. There were eleven tables, spaced far apart to provide privacy. Only five were occupied by other couples.

While sipping an aperitif, we perused the ten-page menu, which featured international (predominately French) and Khmer cuisine. A separate menu listed the special five-course “Degustation Menu” to which I succumbed, while Doris, whose appetite is far less rapacious than that of her husband, ordered à la carte.

The tasting menu began with an appetizer of cucumber parfait wrapped in a beetroot coat and topped with caviar-laced sour cream—preparing the palate for the following course of goose liver ravioli served with an artichoke essence. Sharing brought further dimension to our meal, as Doris’s generously portioned starter of melt-in-the-mouth pan-fried goose liver complemented perfectly the rhubarb compote.

Poised delicately between our starter and entrée, an amuse-bouche of duck carpaccio was served to Doris to coincide with my course of salmon confit, which was matched with a slightly tart calamansi-and-lime butter sauce and presented on a bed of lightly spiced eggplant. Then came the high note. Paired with chateau potatoes and sautéed French beans, Doris’s entrée of duck à l’orange was moist and delicately flavored, while my oven-roasted veal mignons were basted in a tamarind–port wine sauce and accompanied by braised cabbage with glazed sweet potatoes.

Although dessert would indeed be excessive, we surrendered to the temptation. For me, the tasting menu concluded with a wild-berry-and-chocolate charlotte. Doris yielded to the waiter’s recommendation of deep-fried port wine ice cream with red pear compote. This final gustatory indulgence left us sated and attempting to aid digestion with cognac.

Throughout our meal the muted background music featured Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and the unmistakable vocals of big-band-era singer Jimmy Rushing. Service was well honed and flawless. Our needs were anticipated and attended to unobtrusively and smoothly, and for just one night, a sense of time and place seemed to slip away. We were no longer in twenty-first-century Cambodia. The real world dissolved into a surrogate of comfortable illusion.

We left to a chorus wishing us a good evening along with a replay of the smiles and sampeahs that had greeted us two and a half hours previously. Wrapped in a cozy postdinner lethargy, we sat on our balcony at the hotel. The sultry night was frangipani scented and echoing with cricket calls. Surrendering to the serenity of the moment, we drifted in Le Royal’s lost-in-time version of Phnom Penh.

Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh has launched a new Signature Sunday Brunch in the company of famous guests from its past.

Raffles Hotel Le Royal Personality Brunch

On Sunday 27 May it was the turn of W. Somerset Maugham, one of England’s most celebrated literary figures from the 20th century. His journey through Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam was the subject of his book The Gentleman in the Parlour, first published in 1930. The historic Raffles property already has a Personality Suite in the hotel named in his honour and now it is the turn of an impressive lunch spread in the Raffles Le Royal Restaurant.

The brunch was extremely civilised as you might expect from one of Phnom Penh’s finest institutions. Unlike a traditional buffet spread that requires guests to be up and down throughout the meal, chefs and waiters wander among the tables offering tasters and selected cuts such as salt-encrusted salmon and 240-day cured topside of beef. The buffet includes some fine seafood and sashimi dishes, including fresh oysters and langoustines.

The cheese buffet was extensive and impressive and obviously designed to reflect Maugham’s long years as a resident of Southern France. A highlight included a Calvados-encrusted brie that simply melted on the palate. The dessert selection included some English classics such as a bite-sized spotted dick and a shot glass of trifle. All in all it was an excellent way to while away a few hours on a Sunday.

The Signature Sunday Brunch starts from US$39 including a personality cocktail. Or enjoy freeflow of Tattinger Nocturne Champagne for US$79. Highly recommended by the Hanuman team.